I. Field
The following description relates generally to communications systems, and more particularly to pre-authorization for subsequent dynamic quality of service configuration with respect to one or more traffic flows associated with delivering services to a terminal or host.
II. Background
Communication networks, such as wireless communication networks, broadband networks, and other suitable networks are utilized in connection with transferring data, wherein data can include word processing files, streaming video, multimedia files, voice data, and/or the like. When using such networks, some subscribers to the network may be provided with different quality of service (QoS) parameters than other subscriber. Pursuant to an example, a first individual may subscribe to a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) network and be provided with first upload and download speeds, while a second individual subscribed to the DSL network may pay a different subscription rate than the first individual and be provided with different upload and download speeds. With still more specificity, the first subscriber may pay a first rate for 1 Megabyte/second download connection speed while the second subscriber may pay a second rate for 512 Kilobyte/second download connection speed.
Additionally, users of networks can be provided with different services. For instance, wireless network subscribers can purchase subscriptions that enable web-browsing, text message delivery and receipt, voice calls, data transmittal (e.g., video, pictures, sound clips, . . . ), gaming, etc. As the delivery requirements of application flows corresponding to various services are different, it may be desirable to associate the traffic flows of various services with different QoS parameters (e.g., latency, bandwidth, . . . ). While in some cases QoS parameters and traffic flow identification criteria (e.g., expected values of various packet header fields for classification) for a service are known at the time that a user is granted access to an operator's network, in other cases some of the required information may not be known until the time that a session of service is established (e.g. sometime after initial access is granted). Thus, it is desirable to support QoS configuration at the time of session establishment which is not currently possible. In general it is desirable to allow the service user (e.g., subscriber) to request the required QoS configuration, but ensure the service provider (e.g., network operator) maintains sufficient policy control over granting such requests. While traditional communication networks have only support a relatively small set of services, emerging communication systems based on the Internet Protocol enable a potentially limitless set of services. These paradigm shifts have exposed a need for improvements in controlling services and managing associated QoS support.